Samsung Galaxy S3 comes to Ting (my favorite little carrier)

Though I spend most of my time writing about the goings on of the four major carriers here in the US, there are many good smaller carriers and operators out there that we don’t give enough attention. Ting is one of them. It’s a small mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that piggybacks off of Sprint’s network. Today, Ting’s phone selection just got an upgrade. It is now accepting orders for the Samsung Galaxy S3, which will ship in 3 to 6 weeks. The S3 is Ting’s first LTE-capable phone.

So why would you pick Ting? Well, you certainly don’t have to pick it. Choosing a carrier is a tough decision. But Ting is the only phone provider I know of that is completely transparent and charge you only for the minutes, texts, and data that you use. If I switched to Ting right now (I’m still on Verizon, but considering a move), my phone bill would go from $92 to about $50. Over time, those savings add up.

The only catch to Ting is that you have to pay full price for your phone, so you’ll likely spend about $200-$350 more upfront than you’d spend at a major carrier. In time, the savings end up paying for the upfront phone cost and then some, assuming you stick to a two-year upgrade cycle (no contract so you can leave whenever) and use home Wi-Fi to limit your data usage. The bottom line is that you’re in control. If you use less than you pay for, Ting even reimburses you. You can share data between devices, tether, and add as many devices as you want ($6 per new device, not $40 like Verizon and AT&T are charging).

At the risk of sounding like a spokesperson, which I am not, I’ll end it there. To learn more about Ting, check out the article I wrote a few months back: “Exploring Ting.” If you’d like to learn more about the Galaxy S3, check out our review.